


How's it Go, I Forgot?

by tatersalad5001



Series: No Matter What [4]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Background Relationships, Canon Trans Character, Depression, Family, Friendship, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22548439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: (Just remember this song)Ai was gone. And this time, he had no way of bringing himself back. He was gone for good.Ai was his partner. Had been his partner. Ai had been just as hurt by everything they’d been through as Yusaku was, if not more so. And they went through it all together. Yusaku never would’ve gotten this far without Ai. So why did Yusaku gain everything, and Ai lose it all in the end?How was that fair?
Relationships: Ai | Ignis & Fujiki Yuusaku, Fujiki Yuusaku & Roboppy
Series: No Matter What [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562797
Kudos: 20





	How's it Go, I Forgot?

**Author's Note:**

> this is the last part of this series of fics taking place in vrains post-canon. i'm not expecting to write more, or at least, not more in this specific series of fics. but it's been a lot of fun! i've enjoyed writing these, and i hope you've enjoyed reading them just as much.
> 
> This fic is about Yusaku, and his state of things in the Vrains epilogue. No one had seen Yusaku or Playmaker in three months. No one had heard from Yusaku or Playmaker in three months. Then one of the last things we see is Yusaku logging into Vrains as Playmaker, and something that looks a lot like Ai waking up. Keeping all that in mind, I wanted to explore where Yusaku is at in all this. What has he been up to? Why has he been doing this? Where is he at? And why hasn't anyone been able to find him for so long? These are the kind of things I wanted to delve into.
> 
> Poor kid was devastated in that last episode. Of course he was. We all were. He deserved better. All these kids deserved better. What the heck, dude.
> 
> Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy reading!!!

Ai was gone.

Ai had disappeared from Yusaku’s life before. In fact, this was the third time Ai had done so. First, when he went back to Cyberse World after the Knights of Hanoi were first defeated. Second, when Ai sacrificed himself to try to stop Bohman, knowing he had a backup that then brought him back.

Both times that Ai left Yusaku’s life before, it was temporary. This time, the third, was permanent, however.

Ai was gone. And this time, he had no way of bringing himself back. He was gone for good.

Yusaku wanted to punch a wall.

He’d gotten what he had set out for the first time he logged into Link Vrains. He’d gotten revenge against the Knights of Hanoi. He’d learned all the truths of the Lost Incident: who ruined his life, why the incident happened at all. Jin was now recovering from everything the incident put him through, too. Yusaku had gotten everything he’d wanted.

But he’d gotten more than he sought out, only to lose it all in the end.

Ai was his partner. Had been his partner. Ai had been just as hurt by everything they’d been through as Yusaku was, if not more so. And they went through it all together. Yusaku never would’ve gotten this far without Ai. So why did Yusaku gain everything, and Ai lose it all in the end?

How was that fair?

Cyberse World had been destroyed. The Ignis were all erased.

All Ai wanted was coexistence and peace. Al he got was war and destruction.

No, it wasn’t fair.

But life had never been fair before. Not to Yusaku it hadn’t. Not to Ai, either.

After his duel with Ai, after Ai was gone for good, Yusaku found himself at a loss. He’d failed Ai, failed everyone, twice now. First, when he set out to defeat Bohman and save the other Ignis, only for the other Ignis to be deleted along with Bohman. Second, when he set out to duel Ai and bring him home safe and sound, only to return empty-handed.

How could Yusaku face anyone after that? He’d been crafted into a master duelist, and for ten years he had never lost a duel, but that seemed to be all he was good for. He could win a duel, but he couldn’t save the people he cared about. He couldn’t save Ryoken, the way he had wanted to. He couldn’t save the Ignis. He couldn’t save Roboppy. He couldn’t save his best friend. He couldn’t save Ai. Whenever he tried to help someone, they slipped through his hands like grains of sand.

For someone who championed bonds when he faced Bohman, Yusaku had turned out to be a lousy friend.

Playmaker entered Vrains as a simple weapon, good for nothing more than to strike against his enemies. Now his role had ended, and he had failed. Yes, he had saved so many people the past few months, but those he couldn’t haunted him.

How could he face anyone when he returned from his duel with Ai empty-handed, unable to change Ai’s fate no matter how hard he tried? How could he face anyone when his role in everything was finished? He had nothing to offer them anymore.

There was no way for Yusaku to be useful now. And if he couldn’t be useful, he didn’t know what to do.

So when his duel against Ai was over, Yusaku didn’t go back to Cafe Nom. He didn’t seek out Skye or Akira. He didn’t seek out anyone, say a word to anyone.

Instead, he went back to his apartment.

His apartment.

It was small, old, and there wasn’t much in there. But Yusaku never needed much, only the bare essentials and his computer. Still, as he walked inside, his heart sank.

He was used to Ai being here, constantly talking and annoying him. He was used to Roboppy being here, cleaning up the apartment and checking in on him. Now, they were gone.

His apartment had never felt so empty.

Yusaku walked over to where he kept Roboppy’s shell. The physical robot was still in his apartment, and he couldn’t bare to part with it. But the AI inside, everything that was Roboppy, the part of them that developed a free will, was erased.

Yusaku held Roboppy’s robot shell as he reflected on everything that had happened in the past few months. Everything that led him to this point, where he’d gotten the answers he’d wanted but was still unsafisfied.

Ai was gone. Roboppy was gone. And there was no way to bring them back.

Yusaku glanced down at the robot in his hands.

Or was there?

Roboppy’s AI, before they had gained free will, was a simple one. Yusaku was very familiar with their AI, because he had looked through the code for it himself. Of course he had. The day he met Roboppy he looked through it all and had made a few of his own modifications, to help Roboppy be able to clean easier and to give them something resembling human emotion to help them enjoy life more. He knew it well. If given enough time, he might even be able to recreate their AI from scratch.

But…should he?

It was a moral dilemma. Maybe not a dilemma everyone would face in this situation, but to Yusaku it was because to him, Ai and Roboppy had always been just as much alive as he was. But that was the thing. If he recreated Roboppy’s AI from scratch to the best of his ability, would that still be Roboppy? Was it right for him to just replace Roboppy with a copy? Would he be giving Roboppy the second chance they deserved, or just making a new one because losing them was inconvenient to him?

All the questions threatened to drown him, but eventually Yusaku did find his answer. During the duel against Bohman, Ai had replaced himself with a backup without a second thought. That backup was still Ai. It was a bit different from Yusaku completely recreating Roboppy’s AI, but…

…At the very least, he could try recreating Roboppy’s AI and asking them, he supposed. If Ai had considered his backup to still be him, and if he didn’t mind that backup replacing him, then Roboppy should get their own say, too. Because the answers Yusaku was looking for were really up to them, and he couldn’t answer for them.

So Yusaku started up his computer, and he got to work coding Roboppy’s AI.

As he did so, a few small changes occurred in his life.

One of his neighbors moved out of their apartment, making it available for rent. The apartment was a bit smaller than Yusaku’s, and in slightly poorer condition, but the rent was also cheaper than where Yusaku lived. Yusaku ended up moving into that apartment. He never needed much space, and while it wasn’t even remotely far from where he had been living, a change of scenery never hurt anything.

Yusaku had attended Den City High School and kept up mediocre grades to make himself seem completely ordinary. To make himself seem unlikely as the true identity of Playmaker. There was no need to keep up that appearance anymore. Playmaker no longer had a target on his back. Yusaku wasn’t about to reveal himself to the world, far from it, but he didn’t have as much of a need to keep his identity secret, either. Of course, he still needed to finish high school, but Yusaku began taking all his classes online, instead. And instead of forcing bland grades, he gave each of his classes an actual honest effort. He never became a big studier, and his grades were still far from perfect, but he stopped holding himself back in subjects he could actually do well in, like math.

So by day, Yusaku sat in front of his computer and forced himself through all his online coursework. By night, Yusaku sat in front of his computer and worked on re-coding Roboppy’s AI. He ate, slept, and took other breaks as he needed to, but most of Yusaku’s time was devoted to those two priorities.

It took a couple of weeks, but finally, Yusaku had recreated Roboppy’s AI to the best of his ability.

He didn’t place their AI back in their body just yet. Instead, he loaded it on his computer. He needed to talk to Roboppy before making that next step.

“Roboppy powering on!”

Yusaku hadn’t heard their voice in what felt like an eternity. And the last time he did had been right before they’d been erased. Hearing their voice now tugged at his heart. It made him feel a little less alone in the world.

“Hello, master! …Roboppy is unable to move. I might need maintnenance.”

Yusaku shook his head. “You don’t need maintenance. You’re on my computer right now. I need to ask you something.”

“Okay.”

Yusaku explained what had happened to Roboppy, or at least, the basics: their original AI had been erased. He recreated it to the best of his ability. But he still wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do to bring them back. To just…replace Roboppy like this. He needed to know what they thought. What they thought about everything, and about what he should do.

“I don’t understand.”

Yusakus sighed. “You’ve lost memories, and I doubt I reprogrammed you perfectly. I don’t even know if it’s right to say you’re the same Roboppy. You could be considered a brand new AI.”

“I don’t understand,” Roboppy repeated. “Roboppy is Roboppy. Even if I lost memories, it’s still the same code, deep down. Roboppy is still the same. If I really am different, then I could be considered… Roboppy II! But Roboppy is still Roboppy.”

“Is it still right to bring you back? After you were erased?”

“Humans say they deserve second chances, right? Why don’t we? Why wouldn’t Roboppy?”

Yusaku blinked. If he looked at it as a second chance, rather than an act of necromancy… it wasn’t Roboppy’s fault that they weren’t able to handle having free will, or that they were given free will at all. That all had been an accident. So why should Roboppy be punished for an accident? Of course they deserved a second chance.

So, with Roboppy’s blessing, he turned off their AI on his computer, transferred it to their body, and started them up again. Roboppy gleefully thanked Yusaku and got to work cleaning his apartment. His apartment had become a mess in Roboppy’s absence. They had their work cut out for them. But they didn’t mind. They were happy to clean, and they were happy to see Yusaku happy.

Yusaku, of course, was thrilled to have Roboppy back again. His apartment felt a little less empty. A little less lonely.

But not quite everything was as it should be.

All wouldn’t be right again without Ai here with them, too.

Re-coding Ai from scratch wasn’t an option like it was for Roboppy. Ai was much more complex than them; Yusaku had never completely figured out the Ignis Algorithm in all his time as Playmaker, and he’d never made an AI with free will before. Ai did leave a backup of himself in Roboppy once, but it was only a one time backup that he already used, and he never made backups of himself any other time while Yusaku had known him.

Bringing back Ai wouldn’t be a simple task.

The best hope Yusaku had was that some sort of backup or data existed of the Ignis from before he met Ai. Probably not a full backup; Ai wouldn’t have wanted to leave loose ends before his duel with Yusaku. But the data that brought the Ignis to life might still exist somewhere. Maybe the Knights of Hanoi had it. Maybe it existed in SOL Technologies’ servers. Maybe it was somewhere in Vrains, or in Cyberse World. Yusaku wasn’t sure where exactly it would be, or how long it would take him to find it. All he knew was that he needed some sort of starting point if the Ignis were to come back.

All he knew was he desperately wanted them to come back. He wanted Ai back.

With Roboppy’s full support, Yusaku threw himself into the search.

He dove into the search with the same energy he put into recoding Roboppy’s AI. Roboppy made sure he put just as much effort into schoolwork and taking care of himself, as well. But his remaining time went to the search. As he worked, he told Roboppy stories; stories about Ai, and about Ai and Roboppy becoming friends, before they were both erased. They became just as excited as Yusaku to see Ai again. Roboppy couldn’t offer Yusaku much more help than moral support in his search, but their help was more than enough. Having someone to talk to, someone who reminded him what he was working for, meant a lot.

After two months, a long two months, it all paid off.

Data from the Lost Incident. Data that was used to create the Ignis. He found it in what was left of Cyberse World. Was it remnants of the Ignis living there? Or was it a side effect from when Lightning ran simulations on the future? Yusaku couldn’t be sure, but this was what he needed. This was enough. He could use this to bring Ai back. He could use this to bring everyone back.

He could make up for his mistakes. Finally show up to everyone else without being empty-handed.

Once the data was downloaded to his computer, Yusaku typed faster than he ever had before.

And then he stopped.

His hands hovered over the keys as he really started thinking things over.

Actions have consequences, Yusaku. For every action, there is a reaction. What would happen if he brought the Ignis back? Lightning ran simulations on their entire lives. Lightning had known that both his and Ai’s futures led to nothing but war and destruction. How much of that was an artifact of where and when they were created? How much of that was a direct result of the data gathered to create them?

If Yusaku just brought them back now, how much would change? How much would stay the same, be repeated?

He wanted Ai back. There was no question of that. But Yusaku also didn’t want another war between humans and Ignis. He wanted peace. He wanted coexistence.

And if Yusaku wanted peace, he might need to change the Ignis themselves. Like Pandor, they might need to be unable to turn against humans. But was that…wrong? Would the Ignis be the same, be themselves, if Yusaku altered them like that?

“Ai wanted to coexist with humans,” Roboppy reminded Yusaku. “If you’re giving him the chance to do that, how can that be wrong?”

They really were the voice of reason Yusaku needed.

He only needed a couple of days to get everything ready to bring Ai back. He plugged his duel disk into his computer and pressed a button on his keyboard.

An eye blinked to life in his duel disk.

“Dark Ignis.”

The eye blinked, looking around the room before its gaze settled on Yusaku. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“You look different, though. Older,” The eye squinted at him. “How long has it been?”

“Ten years.” It was starting to creep on eleven. The fact made Yusaku feel uncomfortable. Not out of some fear of growing older, or becoming an adult, but because he never saw himself getting this far. He still could barely believe it.

“Ten years…it does match up with my internal clock. But how… How did that much time pass without me noticing? What happened, where…where are the others?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything. But the others are coming, too. I’m bringing them back, too, I promise.”

Yusaku couldn’t help but smile. It still wasn’t perfect, but now he was a lot closer to the happy ending everyone deserved. 

He was a bit closer to deserving the bonds so many people had made with him.

**Author's Note:**

> i'd say thanks melatonin for helping me write this but i actually started writing this before i started taking melatonin, on a night i couldn't sleep at all. this past week or two i've been having...a lot more trouble sleeping than usual. i'm tired all the time but i'm starting to recover a bit. i slept last night without waking up all the way in the middle of the night for the first time in a couple of weeks, so that's progress dude! been working on this during the whole process. on bad nights, on good nights, good evenings, bad evenings. it's been nice to have something going that actually feels like progress.
> 
> anyway the real reason this end note is here:
> 
> I’ve got a yugioh server now. Feel free to join it if you want, anyone’s welcome. You can find it over [here](HTTPS://DISCORD.GG/76PT8GG)


End file.
